Ironwood Forest National Monument: Rugged and scenic

by Ron Dungan - Apr. 22, 2010 07:50 PMThe Arizona Republic

IRONWOOD FOREST NATIONAL MONUMENT - The Sonoran Desert is waking from a long, dry sleep. Small green plants emerge under trees and shrubs, stirred by recent winter rains after a decade of drought. Saguaros bulge at their bases, the water moving slowly up their trunks.

Darrell Tersey, a natural-resource specialist for the Bureau of Land Management, drives the back roads, pointing out various features of the landscape while BLM spokeswoman Kristen Lenhardt talks about the monument and its creation.

The ironwood tree is important because it serves as a nursery to young plants, Tersey says. Its branches provide a canopy of shade that can be 15 degrees cooler than the air around it, sheltering plants such as saguaro and organ-pipe cactus, which can grow large enough to dominate hillsides but are vulnerable in their early years.

The ironwood also nurses small plants such as Queen Anne's lace and annual flowers - more than 230 species have been recorded in these microclimates. These smaller plants provide food for insects and reptiles, doves, quail, deer, rabbits and rodents. The canopy is used by 150 species of birds, 62 species of reptiles and amphibians, 64 kinds of mammals.

The ironwood has filled this role for centuries. Some of the trees live to be 800 years old, and Tersey says researchers have found 1,800-year-old ironwood stumps. An 800-year-old ironwood tree would have been here while the Hohokam civilization hummed along from Phoenix to southern Arizona, would have seen endless cycles of drought, would have seen awakenings like the one we witness as Tersey drives.

"The wood is so dense it doesn't float," Lenhardt said. Indians used the wood to make tools and weapons.

The monument was one of a handful that President Bill Clinton set aside in the waning days of his administration in 2000. Some of the monument designations ignited howls of protest, but at Ironwood, the reaction was quieter. A few target shooters got stirred up, then settled down when they learned that target shooting would be allowed. It still is, though some of the shooters don't clean up their mess.

The first place Tersey drives to is stripped of much of its vegetation. There are shotgun shells and brass casings on the ground, as well as glass, plastic, broken clay targets. It's not the shooting that is the problem, Tersey says.

"The litter, the leaving the trash, that's what's illegal," he says. "I know of places that people have shot at the petroglyphs."

The monument faces other problems - urban sprawl, immigrant traffic and the usual lack of funds. Illegal immigration and drug trafficking result in waves of people through the monument at night, so visitors are told to be careful.

Staff members are trying to persuade people not to dump their old washing machines in the monument, and that it is best enjoyed as a scenic place to hike, shoot, look for wildlife, ride a bike or horse, sit on a rock. There are no campgrounds or maintained trails, and no facilities. This lack of structure is part of what makes Ironwood worth exploring.

The area is good habitat for tortoises, owls, skunks and bighorn sheep, I am told, as the truck rolls along, a cloud of dust rising behind us. We drive to the Silver Bells, one of the taller mountain ranges in the monument. Tersey follows back roads until we stop for lunch at the base of the jagged Ragged Top mountain. Hiking to the top of Ragged Top is discouraged in January and February because it is bighorn lambing season.

We hike to a saddle below the highest peaks instead and look out at a valley on the other side.

As we stand there, gawking at the hillsides of saguaros, Tersey spots a bighorn in the crags above. We take turns looking at him through a pair of binoculars. The ram looks down at these invaders and walks away, returning briefly for another look and then lumbering out of view.

For now, the monument remains an important foothold for Sonoran Desert ecosystems.

"Just in this area, we have 400 species of plants," Tersey says.

The monument is best seen during spring, fall and winter. The awakening continues throughout spring, Lenhardt says, with wildflowers blooming across the monument's 129,000 acres. The ironwood trees bloom in May, with lavender to pink flowers.

For many people, seeing such places without paved roads, a visitor center and a museum is difficult to imagine. Someday trails and maybe a campground or two may be built, for now the monument is little more than a place to ramble, a place for those who love the desert.

The rains have come. The desert is waking. All you need to see it is a little water, time and a tank of gas.

In spring, Ironwood Forest National Monument was a riot of green grass and colorful flowers.

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Ironwood Forest National Monument

When: The monument is open year-round, but is best seen in spring, fall and winter.

Where: From central Phoenix, take Interstate 10 east to Exit 236 at Marana. Turn left on Sandario Road and go 0.1 mile, then turn right on Marana Road and go about 5.8 miles to Silver Bell Road. Continue on Silver Bell Road to travel through the monument; it makes a loop with Avra Valley Road. Or, drive east on Sasco Road to rejoin I-10. Roads in the monument are unpaved and rugged. A high-clearance vehicle is good, four-wheel-drive is better. Roads may be impassable after rain.

Admission: Free.

Facilities: None. The nearest stores and services are in Marana and Tucson.